Is Detroit right to cut services? Your Say

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department started cracking down on people behind in paying water bills. After widespread criticism, it halted shutoffs until Aug. 5. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Just as the electric and phone companies have a system in place to help the poor, we need to have a system like this for water also.

— Wayne Wastier

Water bills help pay for the pipes, the infrastructure of getting water to homes and businesses. True, everyone needs water to survive, but getting clean water to your home is not a right; it's a commodity.

— Robert Lauer

Many Americans don't realize that this financial crisis in Detroit was not brought on by its residents, but by the politicians they voted for.

Canadians brought a shipment of water to Detroit, protesting the shutoffs. It also is unfathomable to many Americans that foreigners have to cross our borders to help us.

— John Monteiro

If people knew that their water couldn't be shut off for failing to pay, why would anyone pay the water bill? Why should the people who pay their bills shoulder the cost of those who don't?

Suppose the water company can't shut off the water for people who won't pay, raises the rates for those who do, and then more people can't pay. Then the rates go even higher until no one can pay. It's better to shut off water for some, and let the rest have reasonable rates, than to ask everyone else to shoulder the responsibility of paying when a few won't.